Relevance
"Relevance" is the sixteenth episode of season 2, and overall the thirty-ninth produced hour of Person of Interest. It originally aired on February 21, 2013. Synopsis The Machine homes in on a relevant conversation, as a man calls to inform another man that Daniel Aquino has been asking too many questions. They figure they have a solution on hand, and send someone to kill Daniel. In Berlin, a woman, Samantha Shaw, makes her way down the street and enters an apartment building. Two men confront her and talk in German, and Sam doesn't understand them. A policeman notices the confrontation but Sam says that it's just a mistake and assures him that everything is fine. The two man start speaking in Arabic, draw guns, and advance on Sam and the policeman. One of them takes out a cell phone and starts dialing. Before he can do anything, Sam draws a gun, shoots the two attackers dead, and tells the policeman in German to kneel. Once she checks her attacker's bodies, she knocks the policeman out and tells her technician, Michael Cole, via earbud that she hasn't seen Bekhti. Sam admits that she had to shoot their best chance of finding Bekhti but she did get eight numbers from the man who was dialing the phone before she had to shoot him. Cole traces the signal and he takes Sam to the building where he traced the signal. They go to the roof and Cole lowers a microphone down into the apartment. Bekhti and his team are making a dirty bomb. Sam calls her Control and requests permission to engage. Control gives her a green light and she takes out a gun and goes downstairs. Cole lowers a gas line into the apartment while Sam tapes the door jam shut. The terrorists inside pass out and Sam dons a gas mask and breaks into the apartment. She removes the Cesium but then notices that the kitchen window is open. When she checks the kitchen, she discovers that one of the terrorists has revived. Bekhti attacks her and then runs off, and Sam searches the apartment. Cole finally pinpoints Bekhti hiding behind the wall to her right, and she shoots through the wall, killing him. Sam tells Cole to pull the fire alarm while she recovers her bullets so there's no trace of their presence. Once she cleans up, Sam says that Bekhti's wiring was faulty and she fixed it. She tells Cole that she'll see him later, but he tells her that Control called and told them that they have another Number. As Sam walks away, Bekhti's apartment explodes behind her. A day later, Sam arrives in New York City and meets with her superior, Wilson. He's unhappy that she blew up Bekhti's apartment but Sam insists it was the best way to cover their tracks. Wilson then gives her a new Number, written on a newspaper. The next day, Sam watches the new Number, James Mercer. Cole runs a background check on the man, who was in the army, received a dishonorable discharge, and joined a militia. A week ago he received 10K from an offshore account and moved to Queens. As Sam follows Mercer she sees a good-looking man in a suit seemingly watching her. The man, Reese, walks away, while Sam listens in as Mercer gets a call saying that tomorrow is the big day. That night, Sam equips herself in their van and notices that Cole is upset. He wonders how Research gets the Numbers and wonders if sometimes they're wrong. Cole says that the man they killed two years ago, Aquino, had no idea why he was dying. Sam points out that Aquino was selling centrifuge details to Hezbollah and Cole confirmed that the money trail led to Aquino. She insists that Research was right and that they get the Numbers from people they torture. Cole says that they were wrong that time and Sam realizes that he went behind her back. The technician explains that he had a friend in the agency check the money transfer to Aquino and confirm that it came from the U.S. government. He's requested an internal investigation from Wilson, but insists that he kept Sam out of it. Mercer leaves his apartment and Cole and Sam break in. Cole checks his computer and immediately gets access, and finds emails from ex-military contacts. He realizes that their names are all over the file. Someone fires a gun outside and a message window comes up on Mercer's computer, telling Cole and Sam that it's a trap and they need to get out. Cole yells a warning to Sam and then dives at her, knocking her to the ground as men fire through the door. Sam takes them out and grabs one of their radios and tells Cole that they need to move. He says that he was just trying to cover her back and be her hero, and then dies. Sam heads out, taking out the backup team. She grabs one man and shoves a flash-bang grenade into his gas mask. Reese comes out of the shadows and says that he's here to help her. She shoots him in the chest and he collapses, while a third team moves in. Sam grabs the man she injured with the grenade, dives out the window with him, and uses him as a makeshift pad to break her fall. After she shoots the man, Shaw goes out front and finds several wounded soldiers. Wilson steps out from around the corner, sees Sam, and shoots at her. She takes cover and returns fire, but by the time he moves in, he discovers that Sam has escaped. He calls The Special Counsel and says that they have a problem. Wilson makes a full report to his superior over the radio. Meanwhile, Root comes in, still posing as Miss May, and makes sure the Special Counsel has everything he needs. She then goes to her desk and listens in as the Special Counsel tells Wilson that Sam has information that endangers the project. Wilson figures that Sam will need weapons and transportation, but is sure that he clipped her. Sam steals a car and finds a drug dealer, Lewis. When he leans into the car to take her money, Sam drags him into the car and drives off. She goes to the dealer's apartment and captures his partner, Mullins. Once she has Lewis secure his partner, Sam tells Lewis to get her whatever medical supplies he has. When Mullins points out that she's gut shot, Sam promises that if she thinks she's losing consciousness, she'll shoot him first. Shaw removes the bullet and then tells Lewis to zip-tie himself before she passes out. When Sam wakes up, she sees Lewis' supplier, Grishin, beating the two men up. She promises to kill him and when he says that he has her gun, Sam says that she has a backup piece. She shoots Grishin and his two men dead, tells Lewis to get out, and then grabs a beer from the refrigerator. Hersh meets with the Special Counsel and tells his superior that Sam is one of the best and he trained her himself. The Special Counsel figures they need to work out her game plan and Hersh says that she'll look into the Aquino situation and come after them at the same time. As Root leaves for the night, she listens in as Hersh says that he's already confirmed that Cole's CIA contact is Veronica Sinclair. At the apartment, Sam brings up Cole's laptop and calls Veronica Sindar when she finds her phone number on the computer. Veronica insists that she can't be involved in it but Sam tells her to meet her at the Suffolk Hotel the next afternoon. The next day, Sam calls Wilson and says that she'll only turn herself into Control. He refuses until she threatens to go public with the Aquino files, and tells him to have Control meet her at 11 that night. After setting a location, Sam goes to Veronica's hotel room... where Root lives under yet another alias. Root explains that Cole sent her wire transfers that went to Aquino, and she confirmed that someone in the government electronically spoofed the transfers. The group responsible was the Intelligence Support Activity, working out of the Pentagon, and Sam says that she worked for them. Root says that the budget stretches back five years and is coded to something called Project Northern Lights. Aquino was part of it and they built a research facility, but Root has been unable to find out anyone else who worked there. Before Sam can respond, she hears a clattering noise from the bathroom. She tells Root to stay where she is, picks up her gun, and goes to investigate. The real Veronica is tied up in the bathroom. Root tasers Sam and drags her away, explaining that she interrogated Veronica but got nothing. She admits that she's a big fan of Sam and just needs the name that Aquino gave Sam before she killed the nuclear engineer. As Root cuffs Sam to a chair, she explains that the Numbers didn't come from Guantanamo. She's running out of time because Wilson and his men are looking for Veronica, and takes out a heating iron and unbuttons Sam's blouse. As she works, she tells Sam that she wants the name of Cole's contact so she can find the facility. Sam tells Root that she enjoys pain and Root says that she does, too. Before she can apply the iron, an alarm goes off on Root's PDA. She checks the video feed and discovers that Wilson's men are coming. She tells Sam that they'll do it again soon and slips out the side door as the agency team barges in. Once they secure the apartment, their leader calls Wilson for instructions. He then takes out a syringe and prepares to inject her. Sam manages to free her hand, grab the leader's gun, and kill three of the four men. Reese kills the fourth man before he can shoot Sam. Sam considers shooting him but Reese points out that the leader managed to jab her with the syringe. He carefully removes it and tells Sam that he has a friend who wants to talk to her. Reese takes Sam to the empty floor of an office building where Finch is waiting. He explains that they help people in trouble and they know that she worked as a counter-terrorist. Finch knows that she only receives SSNs and the information is never wrong, and gives Sam her own number. He admits that they were unable to save Cole because of their initial unfamiliarity with the situation. Sam wonders who they are if they're not with the program, but Finch simply says that they work for the same entity and it wanted them to help her. She points out that her employers are good at finding people and she only wants to live long enough to find Control. Finch says that she'll never succeed and that Cole began to suspect the truth about Research: that they don't exist. He asks her to stop running so they can keep up with her, and Sam tells Finch that Cole was one of the few friends she had and he deserved better. Finch warns her that she may very well make things worse and gives her his number in case she changes her mind. Sam gives it back to him and walks away. The Special Counsel tells Wilson to get a team ready and end it once and for all. Sam tracks the Special Counsel to a party where they agreed to meet. She realizes that he's not Control and the Special Counsel tells her that he's as close as she's going to get. He's surprised that she's trying to avenge her partner and Sam points out that they killed the one person she liked. As Wilson and his two aides come up behind her, Sam says that they should talk somewhere privately. As they walk away, the Special Counsel explains that the program is the reason they haven't had a major terrorist attack. They can't let the public know because they'd lose the program, and they killed Aquino because no one person is as valuable as millions of Americans. Sam admits that she'd do the same thing in his place, and hands over Cole's research on the Aquino case. When the Special Counsel wonders why she didn't give it to Wilson, Sam points out that Wilson screwed up by treating her and Cole like a threat and issuing a kill order. The Special Counsel is impressed, realizing that she didn't want revenge. Sam tells him that a good soldier wants revenge and protects the program, draws a gun, and kills Wilson. The Special Counsel tells the aides to let Sam go and she walks out, dumps the gun, and blends into the crowd. However, Hersh comes up behind her and injects her with poison. He apologizes and walks away, and Sam collapses to the sidewalk. Later, Fusco and Carter are called in when the officer on the scene, Fleming, thinks that something looks suspicious about a woman dying of no apparent cause. They dismiss it as an overdose and tell Fleming to get some coffee. He reluctantly leaves and they tell Leon, posing as an EMT, to haul the body away. The next morning, Sam wakes up in an ambulance as Bear licks her face. Outside, Leon is complaining to Reese and Finch that he never wants to see Sam again. He explains that he gave her the antidote and a sedative, but she woke up anyway and almost killed him. Leon drugged her again and drove her there. He quickly walks away as Sam comes over, and Reese offers her some water. She complains that they showed up late and Finch points out that they wanted her superiors to believe she was dead. She draws a hidden gun and tells them to hand over their phones. They do so and Finch gives her his card in case she changes her mind. She takes it and drives off in their ambulance.http://www.tvrage.com/Person_of_Interest Trivia *This episode introduces viewers to the ISA section responsible for processing the "Relevant" list, who are marked with blue squares (or indigo) by the Machine. Like Finch, the ISA agents receive Social Security numbers, but of people suspected of being a threat to the security of the United States. *There are many more red squares visible in the surveillance feeds, along with more symptoms of the embedded code from "Dead Reckoning". *Daniel Aquino Curriculum Vitae: S2E16-6.jpg S2E16-7.jpg S2E16-8.jpg Social Security Number (SSN): XXX-XX-5911 Date of Birth (DOB):3/11/1965 (March 11, 1965) Place of Birth (POB): Oakland, California (Please Note, Oakland, Berkeley, & San Francisco,are very close together in the Bay Area) It states that he has a Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering(ME) & Nuclear Engineering (NE) in 1987 from the University of California at Berkeley; PHD in Nuclear Engineering from same university in 1990. His employment history states he was employed at NASA's(National Aeronautics & Space Administration, a branch of the Federal or National governement) JPL, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory which is a research organization, managed by the California Institute of Technology,well-known university, on behalf of NASA from 1990-1998. He also did a stint at Sandia National Laboratory, another government lab which primarily focuses on Nuclear Weapons Research located in the deserts of New Mexico from 1998-2010. Finally, he also worked on a Special Access Program (or SAP for short) called "Northern Lights". The nature of this employment is obviously classified. On a Side Note, the drone which was providing the real-time feed at the time has some very interesting telemetry data. The three salient parameters of the Head's Up Display are Battery Power= 49%, height Above Mean Sea Level (AMSL)= 39 (unitless), Speed (SPD)= 2 (unitless). *Paul Sparks, who portrays Wilson, is in real life married to Annie Parisse, who portrays Kara Stanton. *Sarah Shahi who portrays Samantha Shaw previously starred in the NBC show Life, where she played a cop named Dani Reese. *Aconitine, or monkshood, is a poison usually extracted from an Asian plant called Aconite. It has historically been difficult to detect in cases of poisonings (esp. 12 hours after its injection). *Atropine is considered an "essential drug" by the World Health Organization, primarily used to counteract cardiovascular effects such as those caused by aconitine. *According to the the Burn Notice episode entitled "Down & Out": Flashbang grenades may not be deadly, but if one goes off nearby, it can cause temporary blindness and hearing loss. The combination of those effects is enough to stun even the most hardened soldier. But if you can take cover in time to protect your vision, you can still stay in the fight. You may not be able to hear your enemy, but if you can see him well enough to pursue him, then it's just a matter of not letting the ringing in your ears distract you. *A "Dirty Bomb", otherwise known as a "Radiological Dispersion Device" (RDD) is composed of a conventional explosive which is used to spread radioactive substance(s) over a wide area. *The drug known known as fentanyl is used as an anesthetic, sedative, and in a "recreational manner" as well. It was used in a gaseous form to pacify Chechen extremists during the Moscow Theater Crisis in 2002 . Cole's remarks in East Berlin about the gas may very well have been an allusion to that crisis, with reference to the FSB (Russian Foreign Intelligence Service; formerly the KGB). *Berlin police uniform patches depict a bear (the coat of arms of Berlin), not a cross. *The phone number (917) 285-7362 (written on a card) that Finch gave to Shaw at the end of the episode is an actual routable telephone number that leads to Harold Wren's voice mail. *The same phone number previously appeared in . Carter sent escape instructions to that number, which belonged to Reese's phone. .}} **This telephone number is currently in service and appears to be a wireless telephone number from the NY City area on the Verizon network. ***The 7 digit number (285-7362) when entered on a telephone keypad spells BULRENA which is an anagram for NEBULAR. ***NEBULAR is defined as an adjective that describes Cloud or Cloudlike. ***A Network "Cloud" or Cloud Networking is the networking of multiple computing devices or data gathering resources much like "The Machine" (the dynamic configuration of which is invisible to the end-user) used by Finch in order develop the numbers. *When someone goes to the trouble of collecting spent shell casings to avoid detection, it is referred to in the armed services as "policing their brass" *A few point of interest concerning this file.The following elaborates on the abbreviations/acronyms used in the file: CPL= Corporal, MOS = Military Occupation Specialty, If Pay Grade is filled with E followed by a dash & a number, it refers to an enlisted person, MCRD= Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Veh Disposition= Vehicle Disposition, PCT= Precinct, OCA= Originating Case Agency Category:Episodes Category:Season 2 Category:Embedded Codes Production Notes *This episode is the directorial debut of 's creator Jonathan Nolan. *The episode includes scenes taking place in Berlin, Germany. Filming started around January 18, 2013 in Roosevelt Island at Good Shepherd Plaza and at the Motorgate Parking Garage. Music *"Future Starts Slow" by The Kills - When Shaw takes revenge on the people who betrayed her/ end of episode. Embedded Codes Promo References es:Relevance Category:Episodes Category:Season 2 Category:Embedded Codes